“I don’t beat them.”
“Never?”
“Never yet.”
“Why not?”
Hartington had wanted to say, “Because it makes me feel sick,” but, realizing in time how odd Aggett could make such an answer seem in the Wardroom, he substituted, “Because I have seen no need for it.”
“Easy enough to find a need, ain’t it?”
“Perhaps.”
“Well, why don’t you? It does ’em good. You’re not doin’ your duty by them.”
“Thanks.”
“But,” Aggett had persisted, unable to restrain the curiosity which the discovery of so eccentric a Sub had aroused in him, “but suppose the officer of the watch or the Commander sends a snotty down to you to have a dozen—what then?”